Stress and Intonation I

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Word stress

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How many syllables? Where is the stress?balloon

ba- lloon

joyfuleuphoric

exhilarated How m

any s

yllab

les?

Whe

re is

the s

tress

?

joy-ful /ˈʤɔɪfəl/

eu-pho-ric /ju:ˈfɒrɪk/

ex-hi-la-ra-ted/ɪgˈzɪləreɪtɪd/

With longer words, we get secondary stress

exhilarated/ɪgˈzɪləˌreɪtɪd/

O

Oo

oO

sad lonelyalone

Ooo

oOo

ooO

wonderfulamazing

Japanese

What happens to the unstressed syllables?

/ə/amaze oO

What happens to the unstressed syllables?

/I/enough oO

Ooo

oOo

ooO

wonderful

amazing

Japanese

/ə/

So, what is the importance of this….

oOo Ooo

oOooeducation

ooOo

oOomonologue

Ooo

Ooooparticipate

oOoo

sensible

L1 interference

oOoOoo

Many languages have regular stress patterns or fixed stress.

Finnish & Icelandic stress the first syllable of a word

Swahili stresses the penultimate syllable

Unfortunately for learners…….

There are rules….

but there are many......and a lot of exceptions…..

How do you pronounce this word?How do you know?

spissitudeDensity, thickness, compactness.

(archaic) Oxford English Dictionary

/ˈspɪsɪtjuːd/

spissitudeattitude Oooaptitude Ooosolitude Ooo

Three syllable nouns that end in -itude are stressed on the

first syllable.

Think of some two syllable nouns and adjectives….

What do you notice about the

stress?

scary lionOo Oo

painted berriesOo Oo

Think of some two syllable verbs….

What do you notice about the

stress?

observeoO

prepareoO

BUT….

read + ingreading Oo

Think of some words ending in -ion….

What do you notice about the

stress?

station locomotion Oo ooOo

Is it worth teaching rules?

sometimes

rebeloO Oo(v) (n)

recordrefuse

implantinvalid

conduct

Stress changes in word families

photograph Ooo

photographer oOoo

Ooo

saxophone

oOoo

saxophonist

shifting stress patterns

Is it worth marking stress patterns on new

words?

YES!

How do you mark stress patterns on new words?

Spissitude Ooo/ˈspɪsɪtju:d/

Spissitude Ooospissitude.

Spissitude Ooospissitude

Spissitude Ooospissitude

Spissitude Ooospissitude

Spissitude OooSPIssitude

Spissitude OoospissitudeOoo

Remember:

Word stress is important…

Make sure they make a note of it.

Word stress

Sentence stress

Intonation

Thank you!

jo.gakonga@elt-training.com